Abstract
This paper examines the connections and influences of the job market in a Brazilian higher education setting. Adopting a qualitative approach and a technical case study procedure, open and semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed through the discursive textual analysis technique. From the words of the Dean and the Chair of a business management program in a Brazilian higher education institution and the employers of some of its graduates, the authors note that the education delivered is directly influenced and fueled by actual problems and settings in the labor market. Nonetheless, the same market that welcomes these new professionals does not realize its influence and still requires certain behavioral and interpersonal skills from them.
Our society is rapidly and constantly transforming and evolving. The acronym VUCA is used to describe the characteristics of this process: volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. This description helps us to explain the nature of the transformation and disruption that society is undergoing, bringing substantial challenges and breaking previously accepted patterns (Bennett and Lemoine, 2014).
Various organizations have been propelled by VUCA, promoting new business models that change radically how people work, relate, have fun, consume, teach and learn. There is also an accelerated evolution in the labor field that began with the first Industrial Revolution and continues with the new technological paradigm. In an environment of deep instability and strong interconnection, it is difficult to project scenarios because a problem that occurs on one side of the planet can rapidly affect reality on the other side. All this has influenced labor relations, which have undergone an intense process of flexibilization and increased precariousness.
The employee is in the middle of the debate about changes in the world of work and the technological evolution, and there is pressure for retraining, which requires qualified professionals with the mental and cognitive tools to learn constantly. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that, if adequate and effective measures for professional retraining are not taken, G-20 countries could suffer a financial loss of US$11 trillion within the next decade (WEF, 2020).
There is a related impact on employers in their search for employees. A study by the Mckinsey Global Institute (2018) on the future of labor and its consequences for jobs, technology and skills indicated that 68% of company managers faced difficulties in finding qualified professionals.
While we synthesize competence as a group of cognitive abilities that individuals apply to solve problems, this conception corresponds to the employee’s need to regain control and become once again the protagonist of their work. Therefore, in this discussion, we reflect on the role that higher education plays in the development of professional competencies. The objective of this research is to identify, from the views of the Dean of a higher education institution (HEI) and a Program Chair, and those of four graduate employers, the connections and influences of the job market in relation to Brazilian higher education.
The rest of the paper is structured as follows. The next section describes the methodological approach taken for the study. We then set out the theoretical framework, presenting, from various perspectives, the required skills in the contemporary environment. This is followed by an analysis of the data and, in the final section, by a summary of the results presented.
Methodology
According to Marconi and Lakatos (2010), qualitative research is used to analyze and interpret deeper psychosocial aspects related to the complexity of human behavior, especially with regard to habits, attitudes and opinions. By using a qualitative approach, this study seeks to analyze and interpret participants’ opinions through semi-structured data collection methods.
The need for deep and extensive study of these aspects is reinforced by the abstract quality of the phenomenon, which is related to the development of skills in a Brazilian higher education context. Thus, we adopt a case study approach as best suited to this investigation of a contemporary phenomenon in a real-life context (Yin, 2005).
For the data collection, individual, open and semi-structured interviews were carried out with a Dean and a Program Chair of an HEI in the city of Porto Alegre-RS, as well as with four employers of graduates of the Foreign Trade management program. The interviews were recorded and transcribed, thus becoming a research corpus (Marconi and Lakatos, 2010). In the data analysis section below, the interviewees are referred to as: Dean A, Program Chair B, Employer A, Employer B, Employer F and Employer G. The HEI is referred to as Institution ABC to maintain the confidentiality and ethical premises of this research.
Discursive textual analysis was used for data analysis, because of its hermeneutical features, making possible the identification of emerging new relationships, or units of meaning –comprehensive terms that group the different ideas present in the participants’ comments, which provide the insights to which the title of this article refers. These insights or emerging ideas are discussed below in the data analysis section (Moraes and Galiazzi, 2007).
Participants answered questions on how the HEI defined the competencies that should be developed in a program to meet the needs of the job market, how they evaluated the skills of a foreign trade professional and whether they thought that graduates were leaving the university with these skills developed.
Transformation of work and educational frameworks for the development of competent professionals
The job market has been undergoing constant transformation – from the first Industrial Revolution, which brought ruptures to and reorganization of the productive sectors, to the automation of processes and the impact of today’s advances in robotics and artificial intelligence. The professional must develop new skills to act effectively in a new working environment in which information and technology are predominant, changing the way we produce, maintain relationships, coexist, teach and learn. This, in other words, is the Information Age.
The technological paradigm involves the transformation of material culture into a new culture organized around information technology. The use of information and communications technology (ICT) has passed through three stages: the automation of activities; the gaining of experience from the use of information; and, finally, the reconfiguration of its applications. In this context, the cycle of the introduction of a new technology, its use and its subsequent development has become faster (Castells, 2007).
Applying the technological paradigm to the labor world, whose changes affect society, work and the relations of production, these changes adhere to the theory of post-industrialism. According to this theory, three spheres (social, political and cultural) will be subject to change due to the emphasis on knowledge generation, the production of services and the increased importance of professions with a high content of information and knowledge (Castells, 2007).
Nonetheless, these spheres seem already to interact with the relations of production. A study by Arbix et al. (2017) shows decreasing industrial activity among emerging countries (e.g., Brazil), although noting that this phenomenon is also occurring in developed countries. The study also pointed out that the potential of digital technologies was a variable to be considered in the deindustrialization process, revealing manufacturing gaps in developed countries as well as the emergence of new production chains in countries that were successful in balancing technology with industrial production, like China.
Given the influence of the technological paradigm on economic relations, it is important to reflect on the type of professional who can move between technology and information (as an administrator or a specialist), and on the part that education should play in their training. In a globalized society, with the Information Age consolidated, attention turns to a re-discussion of the discourse and practice of education: [...] emphasizing the importance of equipping individuals from an early age and throughout life with the knowledge, skills, attitude, and behavior they need to be informed, engaged, and empathetic citizens. With this increasing interconnectivity, for example, through ICT and social networks, the opportunities for collaborative, cooperative, shared, and collective learning responses have grown (UNESCO, 2015: 80, free translation).
The above excerpt indicates the influence of globalization and the technological paradigm; it addresses interconnectivity, ICT and social networks in addition to collaboration, cooperation and sharing from a collective perspective. In this context, Global Citizenship Education (GCED) is UNESCO’s proposal for engaging students with global problems from both local and global standpoints.
Santos and Morosini (2019) claim that various educational currents point to the university as the institution responsible for building global citizens. They argue that the development of global competence results from five requirements: “professional competence, functional flexibility, innovation and knowledge management, mobilization of human resources, and international orientation” (Santos and Morosini, 2019: 3).
The common elements that constitute GCED are: a personal and collective attitude that transcends differences, assuring a sense of belonging and a respect for diversity; in-depth knowledge of global issues, universal values, globalization, interconnectivity and sustainability; cognitive skills for critical and creative thinking, recognizing different points of view; non-cognitive skills, such as empathy, the ability to solve conflicts, and communication; and behavioral skills to act collaboratively and responsibly.
The competencies that constitute GCED allow us to assume attitudes focused on collectivity and plurality and to acquire knowledge to confront local and global challenges, together with social, behavioral and cultural skills. The focus is not on competition but on collaborative problem solving.
The relevance of GCED as a prerequisite for professional training becomes clear in light of the complex demands (economic, social and environmental) of the Information Age, with the productive industry now focused on innovation and science, technology and innovation. To the characteristics required of the trained professional are now added those of the ‘flexible’ professional (as in the Reflex Project – see Aneca (2008)) – that is, a professional who is able to adapt to and become integrated into the knowledge society. This concept is derived from a study carried out with more than 40,000 graduates in European Union countries which mapped the main professional skills required to enter the knowledge society, the role of universities in the development of those skills and the degree to which graduates’ expectations of work were met (Santos and Morosini, 2019; Aneca (2008)).
The competencies of the flexible professional are related to: cognitive aspects, concerning the domain of knowledge and thought; behavioral skills (with regard to negotiation ability, the need to work under pressure, time management and leadership); and communication skills, oral and written, in their native or a foreign language.
In addition to the Reflex study (Aneca (2008)), the OECD has also published a study on the skills needed to face the challenges of the 21st century – ‘transformative competencies’. It proposes the creation of new value through innovation (thinking outside the box), building new ideas and professional opportunities, and techniques and strategies to solve old and new problems. There is a process of action, reflection and anticipation in these competencies, which lead to the creation of value, the reconciliation of tensions and dilemmas (diversity of people and ideas) and taking responsibility (evaluating one’s actions) (OECD, 2019).
A study by the Ontario Public Service (Ontario, 2016) also addresses the work skills needed in the 21st century. According to that study, cognitive skills such as reasoning, analytical ability and problem solving, previously considered essential elements for professional success, have lost their place to interpersonal and intrapersonal skills. Employers now place greater value on soft skills such as teamworking and leadership abilities, making social skills a determining factor for employability in adult life.
The Ontario Public Service mapped the competencies of several Canadian and international organizations and found that they were divided into three main domains: cognitive, interpersonal and intrapersonal. Within these domains, five skills stand out: • Critical thinking: necessary in the digital age, when the way to solve a problem is not obvious and the problem has to be identified and critically analyzed, requiring hypothesis testing and creative solutions when facing conflicting variables. • Communication: not only the ability to communicate effectively but to listen, including digital literacy. • Collaboration: the ability to teamwork, to promote teaching and learning, showing an empathetic relationship with others, and collective intelligence. • Creativity and innovation: together, these relate to the importance of creativity for social development, problem-solving, and for business competitiveness and development.
These findings are indicative of the skills and competencies that professionals need to be effective in the current competitive global setting. The skills now most valued for the success of professionals in the job market are no longer the same as those that were most valued at the beginning of this century. For local and global engagement, we need workers with new competencies that are appropriate to the new Information Age.
Within this framework we saw that, by proposing a competent professional capable of working in a broad context, GCED outlines global skills, starting from local concern and moving towards an international and collective orientation, via collaboration, innovation and knowledge management. The flexible professional mobilizes different soft skills based on personal relationships, such as negotiation, leadership and communication – in other words, activities that require human skills which machines have not (yet) developed.
A new age requires new tools must be renewed too. In this context, the OECD’s “transformative competencies” come into play, working as a cycle of action, reflection and anticipation in which the creation of value takes place among different actors. These professionals, who are inserted into self-regulating culturally and socially diverse environments, are able to take responsibility and reflect on their actions.
Finally, the five 21st century competencies identified in Ontario are also linked with interpersonal and intrapersonal skills and seem appropriate for addressing the challenges of the century, including poverty, deindustrialization, intolerance (which technology itself gave voice to), inequality and unemployment.
The skills discussed above seem to converge around innovation, communication and sustainability. However, it is worth highlighting interpersonal skills, especially if we think in terms of collaboration instead of competition, valuing culture and other individuals, emphasizing not only the free market but also the collective good and the planet’s well-being, seeing them not as opposing forces but as elements that can coexist and evolve harmoniously.
The new competent professional mobilizes interpersonal components, communicates with a variety of people, respects the diversity of opinions, acts collaboratively towards results that are not at odds with ethical values. This professional is innovative and generates information and knowledge. When facing new challenges, they are flexible and capable of leading the way, mobilizing other people through the relationship they share. They are not overwhelmed by technology, as they dominate it for professional practice.
Distinct spaces: Higher education and the labor market
Our corpus of analysis is composed of the views of people who represent, in institutional and symbolic respects, higher education and the labor market in the context of Brazilian higher education. A Dean and a College Program Chair responded to questions about how their HEI identified the competencies that had to be developed in the Foreign Trade program. At the same time, employers responded to questions about the competencies of their current professionals and whether graduates were leaving higher education with the requisite skills developed. We shall analyze each group separately and will then highlight the common insights.
Perspectives of the dean and Program Chair
“The way we understand the education given at ABC, it is aimed at the job market. How do I understand the skills required in the outside world? By hiring professionals who are working there. This process gives us a competitive advantage in this regard because we are not studying Kotler
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[...] but looking for ways to apply Kotler in the work world.” (Dean A, free translation)
We start with the above response of Dean A, who expresses an emerging idea of pedagogy guided by practice. By understanding teaching as a cycle fed by the labor market, we might think that education is weakened in pedagogical and epistemological respects due to the lack of specific training for professionals in the market to become teachers. On the other hand, it is also possible to see this as strengthening and valuing education, considering that professionals from different fields will begin to appropriate terms, aspects and knowledge specific to the teaching activity, enriching the field of education.
Dean A also highlights that a purely theoretical teacher may not understand how the current competencies needed by the corporate world are structured, while a non-teaching professional who starts teaching can help to oxygenate the academic structure with the demands of that environment.
According to Tardif (2004), the development of competencies in teachers' work, as well as their knowledge, skills and attitudes, comes from the acquisition of experience over time. Thus, we may infer that the professors of the ABC Institution acquire teaching experience and knowledge with time and practice.
Program Chair B added detail to Dean A’s comment. He noted that the competencies are mostly defined by the Structuring Core Faculty (SCF), the structuring teaching nucleus composed of a group of professors from different fields who have distinct views on education and the market. This group seeks to identify the needs of each field and discipline. He added that other professors are also consulted in order to adapt the defined skills to the practices of the labor market.
Program Chair B also highlighted the role of the Pedagogical Program Project (PPP). The plan is constantly reviewed to verify whether the program is developing the same competence in different courses.
In addition, it seeks to make an interconnection between disciplines. In this regard, the Entrepreneur Project was mentioned; this is a final course in which various contents and skills are applied in practice within a business project, with students from other programs, to solve a common problem. In the words of the interviewee: “[...] it is not just a Foreign Trade assignment done by a bunch of Foreign Trade students. Each group there has a different problem that needs to be solved […]. It makes them see others and understand themselves as customer-suppliers in this job, in which they need the HR and the HR needs them, the financial sector needs them, and so on. This is a way that we have to take stock and understand where this (the competence) is failing [...]” (Program Chair B, free translation)
This activity has strong similarities to project-based learning (PBL), with students working together to solve problems or develop products. PBL fosters student engagement and, as consequence, promotes student learning (Almulla, 2020).
In the context of the curriculum review, we bring Moser (2019) into the discussion. He analyzes the role of education in Industry 4.0 and argues that curriculum analysis should be rethought from a technological perspective. For Moser, the curriculum must correspond to present and future needs deriving from technological advancement. It must include practice, so that it is not limited to theory and provides a pragmatic dimension to the preparation of professionals for a technology-based environment.
Other important points raised by Program Chair B were related to the objective of what was taught to students and how the Entrepreneur Project enabled reflection on that objective. The first point was the need to clarify what is desired from the competence developed in the discipline, demonstrating how the knowledge presented to the student can be useful to them so that they recognize its relevance. “Why are you going to analyze this text that you’re about to present [to the class] instead of just writing a paper to hand in to the teacher?”, was the question the interviewee asked of students, adding that students need to know clearly what is the purpose of the activity so that they understand its practical dimension. The second point was the importance of reflection, stimulated by the questions and criticisms that other groups may offer about the entrepreneurial projects and which Program Chair B called an “incentive for reflection”, as they help colleagues understand what they are doing and how they can improve.
The example given by Program Chair B connects to Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom et al., 1972; Ferraz and Belhot, 2010), which criticizes the use of textual resources in class and its function – whether analysis or writing a review. This example evokes two taxonomic categories: analysis (more complex), categorizing information into relevant or irrelevant, more important and less important, and understanding how these parts interconnect; and comprehension (less complex), which means establishing a connection between the new knowledge and the knowledge previously acquired, in which information is understood when the learner can reproduce it with their own words.
We can also relate the example given by Program Chair B to Schön (2000) with regard to the reflective practice provided by the Entrepreneur Project. Knowledge in action would be, in this case, the project on which the students were working. The questions and criticisms raised by the other groups produce the surprise, the unexpected result that might not fit the previous answers, drawing the group’s attention. The need to find a new answer leads to conscious reflection on the course of action – and reflection plays a critical role because it questions the foundations of their knowledge, and helps them to formulate new responses and strategies.
Let us now summarize what we have reported to this point. From Dean A’s comments, it appears that his main ideas relate to the HEI’s pedagogical proposition: bringing professionals from the labor market to work as teachers in their field of specialization. Dean A presented the idea of a feedback loop from the corporate world to education. Meanwhile, Program Chair B, who was not interviewed at the same time as Dean A, complemented and detailed his ideas, demonstrating harmony concerning the HEI’s objectives. The SCF plays an important role by including teachers in the process of formulating the competencies that should be developed. The PPP review to avoid development of the same competencies and skills also shows pedagogical care. Finally, the Entrepreneur Project is an opportunity to interconnect skills from different programs, providing students with a systemic view and enabling reflection.
The employers’ perspectives
The employers responded to two questions: how they assessed the skills of Foreign Trade professionals and whether, in their opinion, graduates were leaving higher education with these skills developed.
Employer A linked his opinion to the factor of generation and highlighted how age could influence a professional’s behavior. He argued that Generation Y 2 professionals look for immediate results and do not seek the skills necessary to meet the needs of organizations in terms of work and functions. Those from previous generations seem to have a career-building project, starting in more basic functions until reaching advanced work positions. This employer also believed that professionals need determination, “always wanting to show more and to learn something new”, an observation that suggests the behavioral aspect is valued for professional promotion.
The perception that individuals from younger generations, such as Generation Y, seek immediate results is aligned with the findings of Comazzetto et al. (2016). According to these authors, members of this generation, born after 1978, have the following characteristics: they grew up in contact with ICT and are more individualistic; they have more knowledge of technology than previous generations; their personal values and ideals cause high levels of turnover in organizations; etc. These factors make Generation Y challenging and, at the same time, important to organizations, given its familiarity with technology and the fact that economic globalization is natural to them.
Employer A, as well as other employers, pointed out the factor of immediatism. Comazzetto et al. (2016) noted that Generation Y individuals are perceived by other generations as inducers of change and renewal in the workplace, especially because of their connection to technology – instantaneous, with online chats and social networking – a factor that contributes to their immediate behavior, as they live in a culture of rapid information.
Like Employer A, Employer B believes that foreign trade is undergoing profound change, as is the financial system, due to new technologies. She mentioned Aliexpress 3 as an example, where anyone can import without an intermediary via technological mediation. Employer B believes that this import format is disruptive, as it differs from old purchase formats when a bureaucratic apparatus was necessary to purchase imported products. She highlighted that, in this model, there was a need for “people with enough critical capacity to understand the difference between all they know so far and everything they need to use, such as concepts that are already occurring for the new reality” – again, a perception about technology that is connected to the idea of critical thinking. Employer B stated that previous knowledge is not abandoned but adapted. She believes that the professional must respect knowledge and, simultaneously, question its applicability.
Employer B’s perception provides a rich source of elements for analysis. The disruption provided by technology can be correlated with the digital transformation presented by Moser (2019), who says that this also causes a cultural revolution in labor relations. These ongoing transformations will define the future of work, the de-bureaucratizing role of technology, which tends to reduce obstacles for foreign trade operations.
Employer B’s comments relate to the skills listed by the Ontario Public Service as necessary for the digital age (Ontario, 2016), especially critical thinking, as problems do not have obvious answers and must go through an identification process, critical analysis, testing of hypotheses and solutions that demand creativity, with conflicting and complex variables. In the literature, critical thinking appears with aspects related to technologies and collaboration. This perception indicates a set of appropriate resources in the current and future contexts, in which uncertain environments require more analytical characteristics for action in the formulation of different responses (Schön, 2000).
Turning now to the responses of Employer G, she started by pointing out how professionals fit into a career in foreign trade. According to her, professionals who join a certain niche in this field rarely migrate to another. However, she perceived that older professionals had experienced different areas of foreign trade, while younger ones sought to specialize their work. Employer G claimed that it was difficult to find a professional who knew the processes of foreign trade from beginning to end. Here, again, we have the idea of generations, in which different professional characteristics are identified according to the worker’s experience and age.
Employer F thought that younger generations were short-term oriented and wanted to skip stages of practice, believing that what they had learned in college was enough for professional performance. He also believed that graduates left college prepared and dynamic, but rushed through important steps that could determine their success in the foreign trade area. He assumed that this need for immediacy generated frustration, as the expectation of rapid growth did not materialize, causing the professional to change jobs quickly and so preventing them from acquiring experience.
Like Employer A, the opinion of Employer F about the different generations is also in line with the finding of Comazzetto et al. (2016) that Generation Y lacks a sense of continuity and that organizations tend to resist hiring people with Generation Y characteristics, given their desire to rise quickly to higher positions without proper preparation.
With regard to the question of whether Foreign Trade graduates, in general, were leaving higher education with the necessary skills, Employer A believed that graduates were on the way to developing those skills but were not yet fully prepared. For him, students should look for an internship when still in college so that they can become directly involved in the work and relate practice in the workplace to the knowledge they acquire at college. This perception reinforces the need for theory and practice, a combination through which the good professional in foreign trade has acquired practical knowledge provided by work coupled with higher education. Employer A highlighted a practice adopted at his company, whichis associated with the notion of collaboration: “[…] we always choose to mix experienced people, with high and proper technical knowledge, with people who are learning foreign trade, but already have a background from studies or some previous work experience. So we help people who have recently entered the job market to acquire more experience, and with that, create other opportunities internally to grow in the profession.” (Employer A, free translation)
Employer B’s view is not far from this. She claims that administration is an empirical science in which one does, learns and studies. Studying without practical experience does not provide complete learning, which is why she also considers internship important. For her, individuals who have had some contact with the business world in their area of expertise during college are more capable of developing and applying the knowledge acquired. This opinion also connects to the idea of theory and practice.
The notion that knowledge is reinforced through practical application is supported by the theory of meaningful learning. The practical application of theoretical concepts can lead to interaction between knowledge gained through practice with relevant aspects of previous knowledge integrated within the individual’s cognitive structure (Ausubel, 2003).
For Moser (2019), it is not through books and articles that students can learn within the technological context, but by doing. He emphasizes the need to promote situated cognition – that is, to learn by doing – because new generations (digital natives) want to learn relevant and real content. This knowledge, from the perspective of situated cognition, promotes action in reality.
On the other hand, real cases are aligned with the activities applied by teachers in the form of problem situations. In this sense, Employer B provided an example of ethical perception – caring about others. She said that it was useless for the student to read an article about an illicit garbage container importing case; they needed contact with the documents relating to the operation and to see them completed. According to the interviewee, “It’s a different outlook, which allows us to embrace more pieces, to have a vision of reality that makes more sense in the situation.” Thus, by accessing the documents that made it possible to circumvent legislation to import garbage in the case mentioned, the student would have more significant learning. According to Ausubel (2003), the assimilation of concepts in adults occurs through reception in the cognitive structure through relevant ideas and pre-existing knowledge.
Another point about teaching practice was made by Employer G. According to her, Foreign Trade has several specialized subfields. She believed that students did not receive professional guidance during the program in order to choose and adapt to the market. This ended in frustration for the students/graduates, as they imagined that they would work in international relations or travel, when in reality they might end up in an office.
Finally, Employer F was more pragmatic about graduates’ skills. He thought that they did not come with developed skills and needed specific training so that they could locate themselves and understand their tasks. He said that the professional “develops [...] with practice, they do not get here ready, I can’t put them in this role and expect them to achieve anything. They won’t achieve because foreign trade is purely experience, that’s how you know what to do in each situation”.
Employer F expressed a similar view to Employer A in relation to another aspect. He believed that mutual collaboration to complete tasks could facilitate learning. This perception also seems to lean towards the importance of practice, as suggested by Employer B. ‘Collaboration’ here refers to the process of learning together, when “what is learned, and the knowledge, is distributed among those who learn” (Moser, 2019: p. 303), so the whole group benefits.
GCED (UNESCO, 2015) also highlights the importance of collaboration. The interconnection provided by ICT and social networks demands shared and collective learning. It can be inferred that, by learning in collaboration or together with peers, individuals reinforce their skills and strengthen the organization, which may contribute to new adapted solutions, one of the bases of competent action.
Synthesizing the opinions of the employers participating in this research we note that the following issues emerged: • different generations and their profile in the job market; • the role of new technologies, causing disruptions, influencing the way of working and giving rise to new problems, encouraging professionals to search for solutions; • behavioral aspects, related to determination, the search for constant improvement, critical thinking and involvement; • frustration, often a consequence of the new generations’ desire for immediate results and shallow knowledge of what they are working on; • the specialization versus generalization dilemma, also related to professional insertion and experience; • the importance of internship; and • the desire for collaboration, rather than competition, to reinforce professional learning.
Moving towards the conclusion of this section, we aimed to promote an “institutional” debate with the representatives of higher education – the institution’s Dean and the Foreign Trade Program Chair – who defined the pedagogical issues to be addressed by teachers, and of the labor market – the employers of graduates from the researched institution who spoke about needs and the extent to which graduates were fulfilling those needs.
That said, let us briefly review the perceptions of the Dean and the Program Chair. The ABC Institution determines the content of its curriculum and the skills taught on the basis of the labor market, hiring teachers with professional experience in their area. They believe that there is a feedback loop in which higher education (in the context of the researched HEI) feeds on the practices of the corporate world, returning professionals trained in accordance with the same values. The hired teachers learn what is necessary with the practice of teaching. Regarding the definition of content and competencies taught, the HEI counts on the help of the SCF through which the Program’s Pedagogical Project is reviewed and revised. Finally, the Entrepreneur Project makes the interconnection between students from different programs, simulating complex problems in the labor market.
From the perspective of the labor market, most of the interviewed employers did not believe that Foreign Trade graduates were leaving higher education with skills developed for professional practice, but only with a foundation that would help them achieve development while working. College, in their view, provided a theoretical basis and simulated situations that helped the student to learn and experience theory, but real-life practice is what links that theory to reality. They understand that different generations have distinct profiles: younger people seek immediate results, and the lack of a long-term vision for their careers is often a problem; older professionals, from different generations, plan their careers and go through different experiences, increasing their knowledge. New generations may also lack the commitment and determination to search for solutions to problems, using tools that are often available in legislation and online. Their need for immediacy might even bring them professional frustration: behavioral factors are relevant to employers, as they understand that professionals need determination, self-improvement, critical thinking and commitment to learning. Internship during college is seen as a path to professional insertion and learning, because not all aspects and details of foreign trade can be taught in college. Inside the companies, there is a movement towards collaboration, with a mixture of experienced employees and new professionals, to promote learning.
These emerging ideas connect directly to the competencies previously discussed as requirements in the current competitive global setting. The behavioral aspects relate to Global Citizenship Education and Ontario’s five 21st century competencies in terms of collaboration and innovation. As for the flexible professional, rapport is the broader human skill that may help professionals achieve professional competence, with negotiation, leadership and communication abilities.
As for the transformative competencies from OECD, we infer that they may be developed at Institution ABC, especially in its Entrepreneur Project. The cycles of action, reflection and anticipation can be experienced in the controlled, culturally and socially diverse environment of the classroom with the mediation of the professors in this PBL activity.
Final considerations
This study set out to understand, through the responses of employers and the Dean and Program Chair of an HEI, the connections and influences of the labor market in a higher education Foreign Trade program in Brazil. To achieve the research aims, we conducted a qualitative study in which interviews were held and then analyzed using discursive textual analysis.
In the theoretical framework, we found that skills and abilities such as those relating to collaboration, respect, ethics and innovation were important interpersonal components for professionals from a global perspective. Against this background, the following findings emerged: • The HEI plans, orients itself towards and works around the demands of the labor market, and pedagogically feeds on it. • The HEI seeks to maintain an updated curriculum structure by hiring professors who work in the field that is taught in each discipline. • Internship is an effective means of job market insertion for graduates who lack experience. • For younger graduates, the difference among generations seems to be a major reason for their difficulty in building up experience. • Related to the above, some behaviors interfere with learning and skills development and may cause frustration with the profession. • The HEI becomes a laboratory in which the Entrepreneur Project, a final course that integrates several disciplines, is highlighted. This project simulates corporate challenges, dynamically and jointly with other areas of knowledge, from multiple perspectives, similar to what is experienced in the work environment. • Encouraging students of different programs to solve a problematic situation together promotes collaboration, dealing with complexity, integration and the development of research skills. This approach also connects with the employers' perceptions.
Based on the above, it seems that, although the HEI feeds on the labor market for pedagogical practice, the market does not recognize its product (graduates) as suitable for immediate professional insertion. However, the Entrepreneur Project is a good PBL opportunity offered by the HEI that deserves to be developed and improved. The project takes place in the last semester and connects academia to the labor market. However, it would be interesting to extend the initiative to explore this connection during the entire program, with a globalizing perspective, rather than only at the end. The integration of diverse knowledge, combined with different behavioral needs, such as collaboration, shared experience and resilience under psychological pressure, provides interesting mental tools that are necessary to the labor market.
Finally, a balance is necessary between theory (taught in college) and practice (obtained in the labor market). This balance will benefit teaching activity at undergraduate and other educational levels. Theory and practice, combined with the knowledge brought by each generation, will help us address the challenges the planet faces in the 21st century – challenges that need global and universal solutions.
Footnotes
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
